# Five Core Values for Success: Customer Service, Integrity, Teamwork, Accountability, and Respect

An episode of [Money Making Conversations Master Class](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1264705641), 9 Oct 2024, 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/b1db7263-d1a3-4d00-8976-af62012aab44/15aa3773-842a-41da-9016-b203012bd800/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=35a10561-3e1b-4d05-a529-af62012aab6a

Listen and subscribe to Money Making Conversations on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, www.moneymakingconversations.com/subscribe/ or wherever you listen to podcasts. New Money Making Conversations episodes drop daily. I want to alert you, so you don’t miss out on expert analysis and insider perspectives from my guests who provide tips that can help you uplift the community, improve your financial planning, motivation, or advice on how to be a successful entrepreneur. Keep winning! Two-time Emmy and Three-time NAACP Image Award-winning, television Executive Producer Rushion McDonald interviewed Ken Taunton. Founder and President of The Royster Group, a nationally recognized executive search and healthcare staffing firm. The conversation focuses on entrepreneurship, talent recruiting, healthcare workforce trends, diversity in executive leadership, minority business certification, and practical advice for job seekers and business owners. The interview provides listeners with insight into how executive recruiting works, why healthcare remains one of the strongest employment sectors, and how persistence, relationships, and mentorship contribute to long-term business success. Purpose of the Interview The interview was designed to: • Introduce Ken Taunton and The Royster Group's national staffing and executive search business. • Educate professionals on how executive recruiting and healthcare staffing work. • Discuss workforce shortages and opportunities in healthcare. • Highlight the importance of diversity in executive leadership. • Explain the value of minority business certifications and supplier diversity programs. • Provide entrepreneurship lessons from building a successful business from the ground up. • Offer practical resume and job search advice for candidates. Key Takeaways 1. Healthcare Remains One of the Strongest Employment Sectors Taunton emphasized that healthcare continues to experience significant demand due to: • An aging population • Retiring baby boomers • Physician shortages • Nursing shortages and burnout As Americans live longer, the need for healthcare professionals and support services will continue to grow. Takeaway: Healthcare is one of the most stable and opportunity-rich industries for long-term career growth. 2. Executive Search Is About Finding Highly Experienced Talent The Royster Group specializes in recruiting senior-level leaders, including: • Directors • Vice Presidents • C-suite executives These positions often require extensive leadership experience, management responsibility, and proven business results. Takeaway: Executive recruiting focuses on highly qualified professionals with demonstrated leadership and operational expertise. 3. Diversity Should Be Intentional One of the primary reasons Taunton started his company was because he saw very few women and people of color represented in executive candidate pools. He made a commitment to include diverse candidates in leadership searches and ultimately built a business around expanding opportunities for underrepresented professionals. Takeaway: Creating diverse leadership pipelines requires intentional effort and accountability. 4. Minority Business Certification Opens Doors Taunton and McDonald discussed the importance of certification programs such as those offered through minority supplier development organizations. While certification does not guarantee business, it creates opportunities to: • Meet corporate decision-makers • Access supplier diversity programs • Compete for contracts • Build relationships with major companies Takeaway: Certification is not a shortcut to success. It is a tool that creates access and visibility. 5. Relationships Drive Business Growth Throughout the interview, Taunton repeatedly stressed the value of relationships. His business has grown through: • Industry networking • Client relationships • Referrals • Business partnerships • Professional organizations Takeaway:…

## Transcript

[0:05] Speaker 1: Welcome to the show.
[0:06] Speaker 2: I am Rashaan McDonald, the host of money Making Conversations Masterclass,
[0:10] Speaker 2: where we encourage people to stop reading other people's success
[0:13] Speaker 2: stories and start planning their own. Listen up as I
[0:17] Speaker 2: interview entrepreneurs from around the country, talk to celebrities and
[0:21] Speaker 2: ask them how they are running their companies, and speak
[0:23] Speaker 2: with god profits who are making a difference in their
[0:26] Speaker 2: local communities. Now, sit back and listen as we unlock
[0:29] Speaker 2: the secrets to their success on Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Hi,
[0:35] Speaker 2: I am Rashan McDonald, host of weekly Money Making Conversation
[0:38] Speaker 2: master Class.
[0:39] Speaker 1: Show.
[0:39] Speaker 2: The interviews and information that this show provides off for everyone.
[0:42] Speaker 2: It's time to stop reading other people's success stories and
[0:45] Speaker 2: start living your own. I'm here to help you reach
[0:48] Speaker 2: your American dream. Let's keep listening. My guest today is
[0:51] Speaker 2: the founder and president of the Roster Group, a nationally recognized,
[0:55] Speaker 2: certified black owned professional staffing firm. They provide diverse top
[0:59] Speaker 2: talent for both the public and private sector. Please welcome
[1:02] Speaker 2: the Money Making Conversation Masterclass. Ken Tumpton, How you doing, sir?
[1:07] Speaker 3: How are you doing Miss McDonald? How's it going?
[1:09] Speaker 1: Really greatly? Good?
[1:09] Speaker 3: Now?
[1:10] Speaker 2: Founder and president of the Roster Group. Please give us
[1:13] Speaker 2: some background on that company.
[1:15] Speaker 3: Yeah, the Roster Group actually started back in two thousand
[1:18] Speaker 3: and one. We're an executive search and professional staffing company.
[1:23] Speaker 3: We've been in business since two thousand and one. The
[1:29] Speaker 3: company actually recruits senior love executives. In addition to working
[1:34] Speaker 3: in staffing, we recruit physicians, nervous ancillary staff in the
[1:39] Speaker 3: healthcare space within the federal government as well. And then
[1:44] Speaker 3: we also have commercial you know, business as well. So
[1:49] Speaker 3: we're basically a company that specialized in various different things.
[1:55] Speaker 3: On the executive search side where boutique executive search, and
[1:59] Speaker 3: then on a staff I think sign we do the
[2:02] Speaker 3: staffing in the healthcare space as well.
[2:05] Speaker 2: Now nationally correct, nationally correct when you said the word recruit. Now,
[2:10] Speaker 2: how does an individual who has a resume or job
[2:14] Speaker 2: skill set that you are looking for get in touch
[2:17] Speaker 2: with you?
[2:17] Speaker 3: Yeah, so various different ways. I mean, you know, of
[2:20] Speaker 3: course website, you can always go to our website and
[2:24] Speaker 3: upload your resume and we'll put that information into our database.
[2:28] Speaker 3: One of the things with Worcester is that you know,
[2:32] Speaker 3: we're we're not a your typical staffing company, so it's
[2:35] Speaker 3: not like you can walk in off the street and
[2:38] Speaker 3: basically kind of we'll put you in the database and
[2:40] Speaker 3: what have you. A lot of the positions that we
[2:44] Speaker 3: work on are more so seasoned positions. And what I
[2:47] Speaker 3: mean by that is is that the positions are you know,
[2:51] Speaker 3: you know, so for an example, if you're a physician,
[2:54] Speaker 3: you know you got to have you know, you've got
[2:56] Speaker 3: to be certified in different clinical skill sets and things
[3:00] Speaker 3: about nature. And then on the executive search side, you
[3:04] Speaker 3: know a lot of our clients look for seasoned professionals,
[3:07] Speaker 3: so you know, roughly about seven to eight, maybe ten
[3:10] Speaker 3: years out and what have you. So but you know, Royster,
[3:15] Speaker 3: we partnered with a lot of different other you know, companies,
[3:19] Speaker 3: diverse companies at that, whether they be minority owned or
[3:23] Speaker 3: you know, woman own or what have you. And we're
[3:26] Speaker 3: constantly you know, sharing you know, profiles, resumes with those
[3:30] Speaker 3: individuals that I think would be a good fit for
[3:34] Speaker 3: other companies and positions that other companies are working on.
[3:38] Speaker 2: So let me get just straight. We're watching you in
[3:39] Speaker 2: the executive search and do your staff and healthcare correct?
[3:43] Speaker 3: Correct?
[3:43] Speaker 1: Cool?
[3:44] Speaker 2: Now let's look at the executive for search part of it. Yeah, Now,
[3:47] Speaker 2: when you say executive, we talk about C c suite.
[3:50] Speaker 3: Yeah, so we work at the C suite all the
[3:52] Speaker 3: way down to the director level. So so for an example,
[3:58] Speaker 3: you know companies we we've worked with, you know, home Depot,
[4:02] Speaker 3: we worked with Burke Pharmaceuticals, We work with Advisor and
[4:06] Speaker 3: some of the other you know, different companies that that
[4:09] Speaker 3: are out there. And these positions basically are more more
[4:14] Speaker 3: so at the VP, you know, direct the VP or
[4:18] Speaker 3: C level type positions. So you know, more, more, more
[4:23] Speaker 3: season like I mentioned to you, more, you know, more season,
[4:28] Speaker 3: more experience. They managed a portfolio of individuals, whether it
[4:33] Speaker 3: be one hundred to a thousand individuals up to you know,
[4:39] Speaker 3: like I said that that particular skill set with the
[4:43] Speaker 3: management of people, but then also a portfolio whether it
[4:46] Speaker 3: be you know, a ten million dollar portfolio all the
[4:49] Speaker 3: way up to fifty million dollar.
[4:50] Speaker 2: So let me ask you at the Roster Group, Okay,
[4:53] Speaker 2: because I'm a stand on the executive right now, because
[4:55] Speaker 2: now I'm going to get to the staff and in
[4:57] Speaker 2: the healthcare.
[4:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm an individual.
[4:59] Speaker 2: How I find your company and how do I feel
[5:02] Speaker 2: the company has the value of the potential to create
[5:05] Speaker 2: place in it for me? In that suite because you
[5:07] Speaker 2: said all the way up to director, all the way
[5:10] Speaker 2: up to the VP level, right.
[5:11] Speaker 3: Yeah, So so let me explain So executive search and
[5:14] Speaker 3: I think a lot of individuals sort of don't understand
[5:17] Speaker 3: how executives work. We are what they call a retain
[5:22] Speaker 3: executive search firm. So we work for the client. Right,
[5:26] Speaker 3: So the client will come to us and say, hey,
[5:30] Speaker 3: can or Royster, we want you to find us a
[5:33] Speaker 3: VP of HR. Okay, we we put everything together, whether
[5:37] Speaker 3: it be a pipeline of candidates that we've worked with
[5:40] Speaker 3: in the past, or we will you know, kind of
[5:44] Speaker 3: put a marketing campaign together to go out and find
[5:46] Speaker 3: that VP of HR, you know, for for the particular client.
[5:51] Speaker 3: There is another side of search. It's called contingency, right.
[5:56] Speaker 3: Contingency search is where a company will work with a
[5:59] Speaker 3: c in they will only get paid once they make
[6:03] Speaker 3: a placement. Right, so there's no skin in the game
[6:08] Speaker 3: with the client being in contingency. Now, you know, contingency
[6:12] Speaker 3: is great work and great business. However, Royster, we work
[6:17] Speaker 3: strategically with our clients because they give you know, the
[6:21] Speaker 3: fees are paid up front to some extent, so we
[6:24] Speaker 3: build you know, in certain categories like a third, thirty
[6:28] Speaker 3: and a third and they pay us, you know, based
[6:31] Speaker 3: on the types of candidates that we provide.
[6:34] Speaker 1: Okay, cool, now that's great.
[6:36] Speaker 2: Now let's slide over to the staff and the healthcare
[6:38] Speaker 2: where I'm sure a lot of my call is not
[6:40] Speaker 2: saying we don't have a lot of the people who
[6:41] Speaker 2: listening to my show wouldn't fall under the executive level.
[6:45] Speaker 2: But like my sister in law, she's a nurse. Yeah,
[6:48] Speaker 2: and so being in that healthcare field and have a
[6:51] Speaker 2: number of friends in that healthcare field, talk about how
[6:55] Speaker 2: does one find out about Russia other than the website
[6:59] Speaker 2: that like, she's based in Houston, Texas, yep, and you
[7:02] Speaker 2: are national staffing from Yeah, how could she take advantage
[7:07] Speaker 2: of what the services that your company offer.
[7:09] Speaker 3: Yeah. So we we advertise constantly the company basically, like
[7:15] Speaker 3: I said, you know, one particular aspect of it, we're
[7:18] Speaker 3: have a you know, our website basically advertised all the
[7:21] Speaker 3: positions that were all the positions, Yeah, all the positions
[7:24] Speaker 3: that we're recruiting for Royce. We participated in a lot
[7:28] Speaker 3: of different conferences, you know, so exhibit at different conferences
[7:33] Speaker 3: and things of that nature, whether it be antesthesiology, conference
[7:36] Speaker 3: all the way down to occupational health conference or what
[7:39] Speaker 3: have you. So we're tend all of these different conferences.
[7:42] Speaker 3: And then also it's word of mouth. You know. We
[7:45] Speaker 3: we've i would say, since you know, we've been in
[7:49] Speaker 3: healthcare for about fifteen plus years, and so we have
[7:52] Speaker 3: a lot of friends of the firm and basically we
[7:55] Speaker 3: get a lot of referrals just from people that you know,
[7:58] Speaker 3: that we've worked with in the past.
[8:00] Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you the Kain, what are some
[8:01] Speaker 1: of the hot jobs?
[8:02] Speaker 2: You know, if they're all popular jobs, you know that
[8:05] Speaker 2: everybody's trying to get or somebody's trying to hire.
[8:09] Speaker 1: And I'm not saying they don't.
[8:10] Speaker 2: Everybody is employable, but there are some hot ticket jobs
[8:14] Speaker 2: that you want to keep on your roster because you
[8:16] Speaker 2: get the calls on these jobs live.
[8:18] Speaker 4: All is known.
[8:18] Speaker 3: Yeah, health care is always going to be hot. I
[8:22] Speaker 3: don't I don't care, you know, I wouldn't tell you that,
[8:24] Speaker 3: but yeah, And and the reason for that is because
[8:27] Speaker 3: our population is getting older, right, the population baby boomers
[8:32] Speaker 3: are retiring, They're getting older, and so they're going to
[8:35] Speaker 3: need that support services to help them get by. I mean,
[8:38] Speaker 3: just like you and I who had older parents and
[8:42] Speaker 3: we've helped them. You know that that service. We can't
[8:47] Speaker 3: do everything right, and so we're going to so the
[8:50] Speaker 3: support services and health care is going to be huge.
[8:53] Speaker 3: I think they say there's a National Institute of Health
[8:58] Speaker 3: said it best a diverse calls for a diverse health
[9:01] Speaker 3: care health care force. That's why the portions of efforts
[9:06] Speaker 3: and is dedicated in the health care sectum, meaning that
[9:09] Speaker 3: you know, regardless of skin color, where you come from,
[9:14] Speaker 3: what have you. You know, there's we're gonna need those
[9:18] Speaker 3: services to help. Uh. You know, as our population get older,
[9:23] Speaker 3: you know, medical schools aren't putting out physicians like they
[9:27] Speaker 3: used to. Nursing is still tough. A lot of our
[9:30] Speaker 3: nursing nurses have got burned out in healthcare. And so
[9:35] Speaker 3: we are now looking at, you know, a shortage in
[9:38] Speaker 3: healthcare across the board.
[9:40] Speaker 2: Let me there's this because I was I was interviewing
[9:43] Speaker 2: in person about a year ago and I said, growing up,
[9:47] Speaker 2: I said, where did all these old people come from?
[9:49] Speaker 2: You know, because you know you know what I'm saying.
[9:54] Speaker 2: See all these old people, you know, you know, we
[9:57] Speaker 2: just they just went away. And so now as we
[10:00] Speaker 2: grow older and we plan for retirement, we forget to
[10:05] Speaker 2: plan for our parents' lifestyle, right, So, and that starts
[10:10] Speaker 2: eating the way into the budget. And so when you
[10:12] Speaker 2: talk about that age group that we have to take
[10:15] Speaker 2: care of, that's what you're talking about, right, Absolutely, there's
[10:19] Speaker 2: an age group that we didn't see thirty years ago
[10:21] Speaker 2: that now is living a life into eighties and nineties
[10:25] Speaker 2: comfortably like a president. Jimmy Carter just celebrated his one
[10:28] Speaker 2: hundred birthday.
[10:29] Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, absolutely, you know it was interesting. So a
[10:33] Speaker 3: lot of and I know this is a bit morbid,
[10:36] Speaker 3: but you know, I'm starting to understand realize that as
[10:41] Speaker 3: we get older and older, could be you know, seventy
[10:45] Speaker 3: five plus and have you right, you know, that's when
[10:50] Speaker 3: you start tapping into retirement and things of that nature.
[10:53] Speaker 3: But seventy five, it's sort of kind of that age
[10:56] Speaker 3: where I think that there's that it's that benchmark where
[11:00] Speaker 3: we are old, right, you know. And and I look
[11:05] Speaker 3: at it like this. You know, I grew up in
[11:07] Speaker 3: government housing, so my parents were extremely young. They you know,
[11:12] Speaker 3: they they grew up with four Yankee boys in government
[11:16] Speaker 3: housing growing up. I think my mom she was seventeen
[11:19] Speaker 3: when she had my brother, my dad was eighteen, so
[11:21] Speaker 3: we grew up with our parents. So my parents are
[11:24] Speaker 3: you know, unfortunately my mom passed, but but my dad
[11:27] Speaker 3: is still you know, he's in the seventies.
[11:29] Speaker 1: Kicking yeah, right, barbecue.
[11:35] Speaker 3: So so I think that honestly, you know, when we
[11:38] Speaker 3: consider old, it's it's you know, I look at it,
[11:41] Speaker 3: and of course I'm thinking, okay, man, I'm like, well,
[11:44] Speaker 3: my parents used to be when you know, back in
[11:47] Speaker 3: the day.
[11:47] Speaker 1: But you don't look like your parents. That's the whole key.
[11:49] Speaker 1: That's the whole key.
[11:50] Speaker 4: I go.
[11:51] Speaker 1: I mean my dad, now I was I remember my
[11:53] Speaker 1: dad at this age. He didn't look like be at
[11:55] Speaker 1: this age, right, right, right, Because we.
[11:57] Speaker 2: Have a different sense of consciousness, you know, have care awareness,
[12:01] Speaker 2: you know, we you know, like like I got a
[12:03] Speaker 2: blood pressure machine now, you know, I check my blood
[12:05] Speaker 2: presure myself.
[12:06] Speaker 1: I'll have to go to the doc. You know, I got.
[12:07] Speaker 2: A bluetooth to my phone, so I know now. But
[12:10] Speaker 2: you know, when you talk about healthcare, you talk about
[12:13] Speaker 2: your business that you're developing. One thing that popped out
[12:15] Speaker 2: to me was the word certified Black owned Professional staff
[12:19] Speaker 2: can company. Why is it important that you in part
[12:23] Speaker 2: of your bio part of your resume, you're saying that
[12:25] Speaker 2: you're a certified Black owned professional staff firm.
[12:29] Speaker 3: Well, so I'm gonna be I'm gonna be very transparent
[12:31] Speaker 3: with you. You know, when as a minority business they
[12:36] Speaker 3: tell you that you got to get certified, you got
[12:38] Speaker 3: to get a certified because what typically happens is that
[12:41] Speaker 3: the companies want to capture that spin for for minority
[12:47] Speaker 3: owned businesses. I'll be honest with Unfortunately, I hate that
[12:55] Speaker 3: that sort of kind of tack line because I don't
[12:58] Speaker 3: think I need to be certified to key right. The
[13:01] Speaker 3: reason why we get certified is because it gives us
[13:05] Speaker 3: the license to hunt right businesses, you know Fortune five
[13:10] Speaker 3: hundred company businesses. They want to make sure that you know,
[13:14] Speaker 3: we're capable or that we have the capacity to do
[13:17] Speaker 3: business with them. And I could see that because some
[13:21] Speaker 3: businesses that don't have that capacity that once they get
[13:25] Speaker 3: the contract, then you know it's it's to some extent,
[13:29] Speaker 3: it's very easy to get the contract, but it's pretty
[13:32] Speaker 3: hard to execute on the contract, right, So you've got
[13:35] Speaker 3: to keep the business. And so people are in trusting,
[13:38] Speaker 3: you know, minority owned businesses to do the work and
[13:40] Speaker 3: what have you. Unfortunately, we have to be we have
[13:43] Speaker 3: to get that stamp of approval, you know through all
[13:47] Speaker 3: of these different organizations like NMSDC or E Bank or
[13:52] Speaker 3: the l g B t Q certifications. Will have to
[13:55] Speaker 3: say that hey we can do you know, we can't,
[13:59] Speaker 3: we can't compete and we can't do the work. My
[14:02] Speaker 3: take is that I don't mind being certified as the
[14:05] Speaker 3: black owned businesses, but I just don't want that to
[14:08] Speaker 3: be my you know, sort of kind of you know
[14:11] Speaker 3: when I walk into the door, Hey I'm minority own,
[14:14] Speaker 3: give me work. That ain't gonna happen, right, But but
[14:18] Speaker 3: it does give you some kind of legitimacy in that
[14:21] Speaker 3: capacity to say, hey, if you give us this work,
[14:24] Speaker 3: we can do the work without any hesitation or without
[14:30] Speaker 3: any risk.
[14:31] Speaker 2: Okay, here's the quick question I want to ask, because see,
[14:34] Speaker 2: I am a black certified or African American certified more
[14:38] Speaker 2: in the company with the jard of Minority Supplier Development Council,
[14:42] Speaker 2: which is a feeling of the National Minorities Subler Development Council.
[14:45] Speaker 2: And what people don't realize is that you know, they're
[14:48] Speaker 2: big companies out there, they're the white corporations that they
[14:52] Speaker 2: got all the business. Yeah, I cannot get in front
[14:56] Speaker 2: of I can't get in front of them because they
[14:58] Speaker 2: already got their business. So what some of these certifications
[15:02] Speaker 2: allow us to do at least allow these companies that
[15:05] Speaker 2: have these relationship with these powerful firms to listen to me,
[15:09] Speaker 2: listen to my story, hear my story, and I have
[15:14] Speaker 2: to make my story so compelling that it said. You know,
[15:18] Speaker 2: I'm glad you're sitting in front of me, and it's
[15:21] Speaker 2: it's called business relationship, and people don't understand it. Just
[15:24] Speaker 2: like you, I don't want to be a minority owned company.
[15:26] Speaker 2: But if that's going to allow me to have a
[15:28] Speaker 2: conversation with a company that would not listen to me
[15:32] Speaker 2: because they already got the relationship with a company because
[15:35] Speaker 2: it's a fortune five hundred in my case is marketing
[15:38] Speaker 2: and branding, so in your case is staff and you
[15:41] Speaker 2: know they are supercharged staffing agencies out there that could
[15:44] Speaker 2: crush you because they are so big. If you the
[15:47] Speaker 2: certification that a lot of people are really under attack
[15:51] Speaker 2: and talking about you know, doing us favors and talking
[15:54] Speaker 2: about that's not fair.
[15:55] Speaker 1: What if I was white?
[15:56] Speaker 2: That's not fair to us because we're not saying that,
[15:59] Speaker 2: we're asking for any favors. We're just trying to get
[16:02] Speaker 2: introduced in that environment.
[16:03] Speaker 1: Am I wrong? In Stan? Those kids?
[16:05] Speaker 5: Please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with more
[16:09] Speaker 5: money Making Conversations Masterclass. Welcome back to the Money Making
[16:18] Speaker 5: Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass
[16:24] Speaker 5: continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making
[16:29] Speaker 5: Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
[16:33] Speaker 3: No, you're not, you're not because I mean, you know,
[16:35] Speaker 3: we want we want to share at the table, right
[16:39] Speaker 3: and so I think that, you know, being certified gives
[16:43] Speaker 3: us that that relationship. Now, these organizations like NMSCC, GMSDC,
[16:47] Speaker 3: WE banking, some of these other organizations, what they do
[16:52] Speaker 3: is give us that entree, right otherwise that we wouldn't have,
[16:55] Speaker 3: we wouldn't have, we wouldn't have had. As you know,
[16:59] Speaker 3: miss McDonald, you know, these organizations are under attack right now,
[17:03] Speaker 3: and so I I am a bit concerned about, you know,
[17:08] Speaker 3: the future of minority businesses and where we're you know,
[17:11] Speaker 3: and and where are where are we going to be
[17:13] Speaker 3: you know, putting our stake in the ground. Due to
[17:17] Speaker 3: the fact that these organizations due to the fact that
[17:19] Speaker 3: these organizations are under attack. But to your point, you know, they,
[17:24] Speaker 3: you know, these certifying bodies definitely gives us that that
[17:29] Speaker 3: seat at the table otherwise that we wouldn't have gotten.
[17:33] Speaker 3: And so I do agree with you on that. I mean,
[17:35] Speaker 3: I believe in the certification process. I endorse it. I
[17:39] Speaker 3: tell you know, businesses that I mentor Hey, first thing
[17:43] Speaker 3: you need to do is go get certified, because if
[17:45] Speaker 3: you're trying to knock on the door of a you
[17:48] Speaker 3: know of an IBM or in the video or what
[17:50] Speaker 3: have you, first to say, are you certified? Right? Exactly right,
[17:54] Speaker 3: you know, unfortunately fortunately unfortunately right. But but but these
[17:59] Speaker 3: organizations definitely because you know, one of the things that
[18:02] Speaker 3: they do allow us to do is we get the
[18:05] Speaker 3: names of their supplied diversity managers and their staff and
[18:09] Speaker 3: what have you. And these supplied diversities individuals are advocates
[18:13] Speaker 3: for what we do as business minority business owners. So
[18:17] Speaker 3: you know, so we get those names, they interest introduce
[18:20] Speaker 3: us to you know, their clients that they support within
[18:23] Speaker 3: their organizations, and hopefully, you know, it lands into opportunities,
[18:28] Speaker 3: you know, for minority business owners.
[18:31] Speaker 2: I'm talking to Candies the founding president of the Roster Group,
[18:34] Speaker 2: a nationally recognized, certified black owned professional staffing firm. They
[18:38] Speaker 2: provide the verse top talent for both the public and
[18:40] Speaker 2: private sectors executive search, as well as in the healthcare
[18:44] Speaker 2: staffing area. Well, the thing that I wanted to bring
[18:47] Speaker 2: up before we move on for this is that these
[18:49] Speaker 2: organizations they do like business matchmaking. They'll put us in
[18:54] Speaker 2: a position we have to upload all our information to
[18:56] Speaker 2: the portal and then we can sit down and talk
[18:59] Speaker 2: to companies we may not. I might talk to American Express,
[19:02] Speaker 2: I might talk to Chase, I might talk to Cole
[19:05] Speaker 2: Coming I would never talk to. And the reason the
[19:07] Speaker 2: power of certification helps us is that we've been vetted.
[19:11] Speaker 2: Just like Kin said, we've been vetted. They want to
[19:13] Speaker 2: know how many years you've been in business. They even
[19:16] Speaker 2: ask you to upload your tax returns. So it is
[19:19] Speaker 2: really a vetted situation. So when you sit down, it
[19:23] Speaker 2: also tells you a lot about your business, how serious
[19:26] Speaker 2: you are about your business, how serious you are about
[19:28] Speaker 2: your planning process. And that's why I just really wanted
[19:31] Speaker 2: to when I saw an opportunity to bring Ken on
[19:34] Speaker 2: the show, I wanted to tap into his background as
[19:37] Speaker 2: an executive search person, his background as a person who
[19:41] Speaker 2: is providing staffing nationally now not just locally, but naturally
[19:45] Speaker 2: at the Roster Group. But ken the bottom line, why
[19:48] Speaker 2: did you start this company?
[19:50] Speaker 3: So? I started Royster honestly, I mean, and it was
[19:53] Speaker 3: it was. It was unfortunate. I'll be honest with you.
[19:56] Speaker 3: You know, my background was in pharmaceutical sales. Worked for
[20:00] Speaker 3: pharmaceuticals as a sales guy for four years and then
[20:04] Speaker 3: I was six years, and then I was in HR
[20:06] Speaker 3: for four and then I went to work for a
[20:10] Speaker 3: executive search firm called corn Fierry. And you know, of
[20:13] Speaker 3: course we recruited you know, C level people, what have you.
[20:17] Speaker 3: What happened was the tech bubble bursts. Right when that
[20:22] Speaker 3: tech bubble burds it, basically the phone stopped ringing. Right.
[20:27] Speaker 3: One of the things that I was I noticed when
[20:31] Speaker 3: I was in executive search working for you know this
[20:35] Speaker 3: this firm, was when I didn't see enough diversity on
[20:40] Speaker 3: the senior level executive searches that we worked on. So,
[20:43] Speaker 3: for an example, we were working on a senior VP
[20:48] Speaker 3: of sales and there were no women and no people
[20:54] Speaker 3: of color. For probably, I want to say, at that time,
[20:58] Speaker 3: that total comp was probably about close to two million,
[21:02] Speaker 3: and they and I just didn't see any any people
[21:06] Speaker 3: of color. And so what happened to me in every
[21:10] Speaker 3: search that I worked on, I made it a point
[21:14] Speaker 3: that I was going to have a woman or a
[21:16] Speaker 3: person of color on each search that I did. With
[21:19] Speaker 3: that corn and corn and I'll be honest, they're not discriminatory.
[21:23] Speaker 3: It's just that, you know, it's very tough trying to
[21:25] Speaker 3: find you know, these uh sometimes trying to find these
[21:29] Speaker 3: executive search professionals. So when the tech bubble bursts, I said,
[21:33] Speaker 3: you know what, let me take a packet and then
[21:36] Speaker 3: let me start my own firm and let me start
[21:38] Speaker 3: concentrating in diversity search. And that's how I got my
[21:42] Speaker 3: impetus just this uh into executive search and staffing. And
[21:47] Speaker 3: and it was due to the economy, which is.
[21:51] Speaker 1: How do you shift? How do you shift in bad times?
[21:54] Speaker 2: And that's what you were saying, right, pivoted, Yeah, right,
[21:56] Speaker 2: you didn't throw up your hands.
[21:58] Speaker 3: Yeah, I just knew I had that that determination, that
[22:01] Speaker 3: grit to say, you know what, I can do this,
[22:05] Speaker 3: and you know and currently right now, I was, you know,
[22:08] Speaker 3: a Small Business Person of the Year last year for
[22:10] Speaker 3: the state of Georgia. I've won several awards. You know,
[22:14] Speaker 3: Roycester now is we're twenty plus million dollar firm. We
[22:18] Speaker 3: do a lot of work on the federal side as well,
[22:20] Speaker 3: and so I've learned a lot. You know, I've had
[22:23] Speaker 3: some bruises, don't get me wrong, but for the most part.
[22:27] Speaker 1: You're Birmingham, Alabama.
[22:30] Speaker 3: You know I'm Birmingham. You know.
[22:34] Speaker 1: You's in.
[22:38] Speaker 2: You know, so like you said, you know you started
[22:42] Speaker 2: the company, what was that business model?
[22:44] Speaker 1: You know, what was that business model?
[22:46] Speaker 2: When you're sitting down, I want I want my listeners
[22:49] Speaker 2: and my viewers to understand that. You know, whenever you
[22:51] Speaker 2: sit down with an idea, there has to be a
[22:55] Speaker 2: business structure to go along with it. Like you said,
[22:58] Speaker 2: I wanted to make sure I had this these type
[23:00] Speaker 2: of people around me. A mistake I made, you know
[23:03] Speaker 2: that I didn't have the right people. You know, I
[23:05] Speaker 2: hired my friends instead of applying for the right people
[23:09] Speaker 2: to do the job I wanted to do. I thought
[23:10] Speaker 2: they could just learn it. To talk about that business model.
[23:13] Speaker 3: You know, my business model, I would tell you that
[23:17] Speaker 3: it was bootstrap and you know, it was a desk
[23:22] Speaker 3: in my basement and a phone and you know, and
[23:26] Speaker 3: trying to put names and numbers into the database. Right.
[23:29] Speaker 3: One of the things that that model that I start
[23:32] Speaker 3: learning early on was if I would have done it
[23:37] Speaker 3: completely different, I would have found a mentor, right, because
[23:42] Speaker 3: I would have it would have prevented me from those
[23:45] Speaker 3: those bruises you know that you go through. I mean,
[23:49] Speaker 3: you know, starting as a business owners, you don't know
[23:51] Speaker 3: the type of you know, insurances that you're going to need.
[23:55] Speaker 3: You don't know, you know, the type of technologlogy you're
[24:00] Speaker 3: going to need, the registrations and things of that nature.
[24:05] Speaker 3: A mentor will give you that information for free, right,
[24:10] Speaker 3: you know. I I utilize S B A A lot,
[24:14] Speaker 3: I mean going through I mean I took their you know,
[24:19] Speaker 3: different capacity building classes and things of that nature, and
[24:22] Speaker 3: so it helped me to understand how to set up
[24:26] Speaker 3: that model and not you know, and not make mistakes.
[24:30] Speaker 3: I mean, don't get me wrong, I made a ton
[24:32] Speaker 3: of mistakes, but that model from S B A and
[24:36] Speaker 3: Score and some some people that I brought in that
[24:40] Speaker 3: I trusted helped me kind of get over those hurdles.
[24:44] Speaker 3: And so, but having those people around you and sometimes
[24:47] Speaker 3: you don't have to pay them. Sometimes they're just give
[24:50] Speaker 3: it to you for free, and and and there's nothing
[24:53] Speaker 3: wrong for asking for information, right, But but relationship absolutely,
[24:58] Speaker 3: it's all about relationship. And so if you were thinking
[25:02] Speaker 3: about going out on business on your own, just think
[25:05] Speaker 3: about having somebody that you can call and trust. I'm
[25:08] Speaker 3: a part of all these different CEO groups like EO
[25:12] Speaker 3: pure groups and things of that nature. Those are the people,
[25:16] Speaker 3: those are the types of organizations that I would join.
[25:19] Speaker 2: Now here's a as we close out, you know, I'm
[25:22] Speaker 2: talking to Can the Roster groups. He's a boy from
[25:25] Speaker 2: the south Birmingham. You can't get the most south in Birmingham.
[25:29] Speaker 2: That's Ricky Smiley country.
[25:34] Speaker 1: You know. The thing about it is that when.
[25:36] Speaker 2: We look at mistakes or eras and resumes and presentations,
[25:41] Speaker 2: you've seen it all that you said you founded this company,
[25:44] Speaker 2: you know over two decades you've been out there doing
[25:46] Speaker 2: it as an executive, doing the executive search process. Let's
[25:50] Speaker 2: start there some of the mistakes that people should avoid, you.
[25:55] Speaker 3: Know, so you know the recruiters look at resume is
[26:00] Speaker 3: extremely quick, right, I mean I can look at a
[26:04] Speaker 3: resume or a CV like in I'd say five seconds
[26:08] Speaker 3: and know that this person is not going to be
[26:10] Speaker 3: a fit. You know. One of the things that I
[26:14] Speaker 3: think that a lot of candidates typically don't do is
[26:19] Speaker 3: really put a whole lot of meat within their resume
[26:23] Speaker 3: really kind of justify their existence for that position. Right.
[26:27] Speaker 3: And so if candidates could put more meat on their resumes,
[26:31] Speaker 3: now things are different, right. I mean, you've got all
[26:33] Speaker 3: of these different platforms now that you can upload your
[26:36] Speaker 3: resume they shredded, We go in and they take a
[26:38] Speaker 3: look and download and things of that nature. But a
[26:41] Speaker 3: lot of people don't know that when when they're shredding
[26:45] Speaker 3: that resume for us to take a look at, they're
[26:48] Speaker 3: looking at key words, you know, specifically for the position
[26:52] Speaker 3: that you're applying for. So, if you're applying for a
[26:54] Speaker 3: position that you think that you would be a fit for,
[26:57] Speaker 3: read that job description, right, Read the job description. Make
[27:01] Speaker 3: sure that you got those key phrases, those keywords in there,
[27:05] Speaker 3: so that you know, if we're saying, if we pull
[27:07] Speaker 3: down you know, like five candidates or six candidates, ten candidates,
[27:11] Speaker 3: whatever the number is, your resume would be part of
[27:15] Speaker 3: that batch, right. And so put the effort, put the
[27:19] Speaker 3: time into writing your your resume and your CV.
[27:23] Speaker 2: So basically saying resumes a SEO driven to keyword, you.
[27:30] Speaker 3: Know, and it's unfortunate, right, I mean, you.
[27:32] Speaker 2: Know, you know well I would say it's unfortunately. That's
[27:34] Speaker 2: why you're on the show. Listen to the money made
[27:36] Speaker 2: conversation master that you get hits on how to win.
[27:39] Speaker 4: You know, the resume to that you knew, and sure
[27:44] Speaker 4: enough they passing on in an interview these days, ain't
[27:47] Speaker 4: it doesn't happen that way, you go, you got to
[27:49] Speaker 4: put it into the database.
[27:51] Speaker 1: I'm not saying my sister in law looking for a job.
[27:55] Speaker 1: She beat me up not talking about it. I'm not
[27:57] Speaker 1: looking for a job.
[27:58] Speaker 2: But how does she avoid making mistakes if she came
[28:02] Speaker 2: to your company and put the wrong things and saying,
[28:05] Speaker 2: what were some hints some clues?
[28:07] Speaker 3: You know? Recruiters, you know, executive search and recruiters take
[28:12] Speaker 3: your call, right, I mean, don't get me wrong. They're
[28:14] Speaker 3: not going to call you back like you know, like
[28:16] Speaker 3: over in twenty you know, ten hours or twenty four
[28:18] Speaker 3: what have you. But they will return your call if
[28:22] Speaker 3: you if you are you know, if they're a viable candidate, right,
[28:25] Speaker 3: and so call the recruiter and say, hey, listen, I'm
[28:28] Speaker 3: thinking of I'm looking at this particular opportunity. You know, here,
[28:31] Speaker 3: here are my skill sets. How do I apply for?
[28:34] Speaker 3: And how what what are you looking for? And how
[28:36] Speaker 3: do I upload this resume so that you know it
[28:40] Speaker 3: you can pull it or your client and take a
[28:42] Speaker 3: look at it, so you know, call the call the
[28:44] Speaker 3: recruiter if you know, if you have a entree into
[28:48] Speaker 3: the company that you're interested in applying for, you know,
[28:51] Speaker 3: send the resume directly to that hire manager or to
[28:54] Speaker 3: that HR, that HR department, right and also upload the resume.
[28:59] Speaker 3: So do you know, do a double duty. I mean
[29:03] Speaker 3: with that, get your hustled. Yeah, the more you can
[29:06] Speaker 3: put it, the more you can put your resume out
[29:08] Speaker 3: there to those people that you're organizations that you're targeting,
[29:12] Speaker 3: the better.
[29:13] Speaker 1: Awesome. I'll tell you something again, This is awesome. Now, well,
[29:16] Speaker 1: this is enjoyable.
[29:17] Speaker 2: Now I want to invite you into some of our
[29:21] Speaker 2: other platform But again, thank you for coming on Money
[29:23] Speaker 2: Making Conversation master class.
[29:25] Speaker 1: You've educated me, educated my audience.
[29:27] Speaker 2: And guess what he hiring hiring the brother's hiring black
[29:32] Speaker 2: certify hiring. Okay, again, thank you Ken for coming on
[29:35] Speaker 2: Money Making Conversations master Class.
[29:37] Speaker 3: All right, Miss McDonald, you take care, sir, take care appreciation.
[29:40] Speaker 3: All right.
[29:41] Speaker 2: This has been another edition of Money Making Conversation Master
[29:44] Speaker 2: Class hosted by me, Rashaun McDonald. Thank you to our
[29:47] Speaker 2: guests on the show today and thank you listening to
[29:50] Speaker 2: the audience now. If you want to listen to any
[29:52] Speaker 2: episode I want to be a guest on the show,
[29:54] Speaker 2: visit Moneymaking Conversations dot com. Our social media handle is
[29:58] Speaker 2: money Making Conversations. Join us next week and remember to
[30:02] Speaker 2: always leave with your gifts.
[30:03] Speaker 1: Keep winning.

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